- Industry: Broadcasting & receiving
- Number of terms: 5074
- Number of blossaries: 1
- Company Profile:
The largest broadcasting organisation in the world.
Solar panels, usually roof-mounted, use the energy of the sun to generate electricity for home use, with the potential to sell surplus back to the grid. Light shining on a panel of photovoltaic cells creates an electric field across layers of semiconductive material, causing electricity to flow.
Industry:Natural environment
The second lowest level of the atmosphere, extending from about 10km to about 50km altitude. The ozone layer, the part of the earth's atmosphere with the greatest concentration of ozone, forms part of the stratosphere. Because it sits above the troposphere, where most air turbulence occurs, the lower stratosphere is where most commercial airlines set their cruising altitude.
Industry:Natural environment
The process whereby technological advances are shared between different countries. Developed countries could, for example, share up-to-date renewable energy technologies with developing countries, in an effort to lower global greenhouse gas emissions.
Industry:Natural environment
A thermostat maintains the temperature of a system at or near a stipulated level using sensors that tell it when to turn off heating devices. In most household central heating systems, a wall-mounted thermostat is used to set a maximum temperature for the house, while thermostatic radiator valves can be used to set a desired level for individual radiators.
Industry:Natural environment
The lowest level of the atmosphere, from the surface to about 10km. It is the level at which clouds form and where our weather phenomena occur.
Industry:Natural environment
A watt is a unit of power. Power is the rate at which energy is used, and a watt is equal to a rate of one joule of energy per second. Watts are commonly used when referring to the energy consumption of relatively small things like lightbulbs, while kilowatts (a thousand watts) are used for larger machines. Megawatts (a million watts) are used to measure the electricity generation of power stations. See also kilowatt-hours.
Industry:Natural environment
The state of the atmosphere with regard to temperature, cloudiness, rainfall, wind and other meteorological conditions. It is not the same as climate which is the average weather over a much longer period.
Industry:Natural environment
All turbines use kinetic (movement) energy to cause a bladed rotor to turn and so generate electricity. A wind turbine is a machine that captures the force of the wind. Often seen in remote, exposed coastal regions or offshore where wind speeds are greatest and most consistent, smaller versions can be installed on houses, but research suggests they may be useless, or even counter-productive, in urban settings.
Industry:Natural environment
Acid rain is simply rain with higher than normal acidity. Its main cause is emissions of nitrogen and sulphur compounds from burning fossil fuels to power transport, power stations, forest fires, fertiliser and industry.
Industry:Natural environment
